us. tonight tis the season to go suspending its britain sell spree begins to look at exactly who is pocketing the profits. also perilous. warns that the country is making a dangerous move by following washington in taking a rainy and militant off the terror list. and blames terrorists for killing twenty including children in the north while the rebels accuse the regime but there seems to be no clear picture behind the mutual finger pointing.

if you just joined us my name is kevin zero in thank you for being with r.t. tonight the top story britain's bargain hunters are out in force for shops reporting record boxing day takings both in store and online although the shoppers are keeping the u.k. still ringing though you might be surprised to know pockets of being line has been falling out for us. proud to be british brits interests alike often pay for their quintessentially british experience says on aware that they're run by foreign companies harrods the dorchester hotel and even the queen's grocer fortnum and mason keeping the fortnum and mason is a british store. is it not. it's been here for ages so i assumed it was wholly owned by british people. never mind everything's ok now you

know the reason that things are getting. so bad almost half the companies in the u.k. and now in foreign hands the coalition government in britain likes to talk about the march of the makers can have a march of the makers if we're selling of all that is good household names like boot the chemist cadbury's chocolate and weetabix cereal have all been gobbled up by foreign corporations your traditional bacon butty hardly imaginable without h.p. source the name stands for houses of parliament the label even has westminster on it but the white house might be more fitting h.p. now belongs to heinz and as you're spreading your hartley's jam or your son pat peanut butter over your morning toast you might be surprised to learn that these british brands were just bought up by another american company in fact even thames

water which comes out of every single tap in and around london now belongs to an australian company advocates of foreign takeovers say they inject much needed cash into the british economy here recently with the premier foods not only selling off . pickle selling off hartley's just. some butter and also closing down some of their home. and you know it's interesting what's reaction analysts say great news for investors although it is bleak news just before christmas. for the workforce two years ago kraft the u.s. food giant swallowed up cadbury's chocolate it was a hostile takeover they slashed four hundred jobs and moved production to poland in the process but there are those that say that the loss of sweets is the least of britain's problems and the loss of control over ports to in this country and around the world where we have a huge network of of good international ports i think is

a very serious matter the loss of control over our airports the loss of control particularly over our energy companies which means decisions about our energy could control in supply and not made in london there maybe in paris and or overseas tax havens such as in switzerland when companies take over they often move their headquarters away from the u.k. or look for better advantages in terms of the tax system a good example of that was boots the chemist which was a company with a head office in nottingham for one hundred sixty one years i moved in switzerland where we had revenues of around eighty nine million pounds in corporation tax and they reduced that then to nine million so burden is then placed on the u.k. tax payer increases an income tax of the eighty or other forms of taxation that has to be found and we're the ones paying for it other nations governments scrutinize every overseas bed france for example argues that it's in their national interest

to prevent key technologies falling into foreign hands so while it's often difficult for a british company to buy abroad over thirty billion pounds worth of domestic companies made their way into foreign hands last year last month westminster said that it wouldn't change any laws but would take a greater interest in foreign acquisitions the only thing is by the time they get around to it there might be nothing left to sell paulie boy art see london. to ryan's warning color that it's made a dangerous move by taking a notorious aronian militant group off its terror list khaled is following a similar move to the united states in accepting that the has renounced violence and wants peaceful regime change in iran ruf rational looks at the organizations record and hears from some iranians are wary of legitimizing it mohamed shows me his box of handmade treasures earrings pendants all made from stone the only

material he could find in the prison yard. michel martin this is how we killed time and the pain from the torture and hunger i still get headaches when i remember this time that the admission valley iranian soldier mohammed spent eighteen years in an iraqi jail during the one thousand nine hundred eighty s. iran iraq war he says he would have been freed earlier if he joined the ek the majority didn't it help to realize the militant revolutionary group was fighting iran in authority on the side of saddam hussein and recruiting new members a month prisoners but mohamed refused them they were terrorists killing innocent people i couldn't have anything to do with them i betray my country then the group indeed had a very gory history in the one nine hundred sixty s. it started a bombing campaign against iran's shar and his allies they were linked to the killing of american citizens and welcomed the u.s. embassy siege in teheran openly calling for the execution of the hostages. the

terror continued after these lawmakers evolution with the association of the country's president prime minister along with many politicians and clerics with generous support from hussein it fought hard in iran as well as saddam's enemies inside iraq in one nine hundred ninety seven m. a k. joined america's least of terrorist organizations along with al qaeda and hamas and was cited in arguments for the invasion of iraq today iran iraq is still viewed ek as terrorist group but america's position has now flipped me kerry as iran's democratic on this is just part of the large scale and successful lobby to get any case off the terror least among backers former white house officials army generals and cia chiefs to extremely disturbing this is a this is this at the time was a terrorist group they were supposed to be paying officials and moving money around and yet somebody was turning a blind eye to that campaign i think that potentially is going to have an influence

on the u.s. policy towards iran and could get us into a very dangerous position as far as potentially going to war with iraq iranian officials second that saying we came a place similar role that american backed opposition forces played in regime change in libya and in the current conflict in syria the main support of beasts to reduce groups of mr carter's because they use from through to access through political means new york a reporter in his article called our men in iran reveals how members of m. e. k. were trained by america's joint special operations command in a camp in nevada. this is part of an anteroom policy sanctions on iran a strong but they don't seem to work very well america started using inside agents to destabilize the country using terrorism as a tool now to that's questionable ties between israel and iran according to

america's n.b.c. network unnamed u.s. officials confirmed and make a was involved in the assassination of a number of iranian nuclear scientists backed by israeli intelligence service my son by israel secret service this quaint tehran is named after interrogate him an iranian nuclear scientist killed in his own car this area known as been jock is a very popular and vibrant place many people pass through here while heading to the mountains resort how to fight them here on an ideal location to remind people about something that shouldn't be forgotten or forgiven mohammad says and make a recognized as a democratic alternative to reign in authorities feel surreal to him that. nothing's changed they are terrorist tactics may be changed but still the west uses it to get information to get what they want. and the terrorists he says is likely to keep his brutal ways to refinish an r.t.

from iran syria and leaders claim terrorist groups to burn the deadly shelling in northern syria earlier opposition activists said the attack that killed twenty people with at least eight thought to be children carried out by government forces it happened in a province the same fighting escalated in recent months a middle east correspondent paula slayer's the latest. the mascots has announced that it is terrorist groups who are behind the deadly massacre in the northern province of raka what we do know is that at least twenty people have been killed eight of them are children now they were early reports by activists groups that it was in fact government forces who were behind this deadly shelling but that sense has been refuted one of the main groups to come to the fore is a u.k. based activist group known as the syrian observateur for human rights the pictures are currently witnessing are pictures that they are distributing on you tube they cannot be verified of the point has been made by the russian foreign ministry that this was a group that relies on some two people and so these kind of reports need to be

taken with a pinch of salt and we constantly hear reports coming out of syria with each side accusing the other of perpetrating calamities indeed what we've witnessing happening in syria is a media war is a misinformation more that is increasingly difficult to verify been hearing now for several days the rebel fighters in syria claiming that assad's forces are using chemical weapons on them what they saying is that the injuries that civilians are coming forward with are injuries that do point to some kind of exposure to a poisonous gas that they consistent with those kind of injuries the fact is though that they need to be a lot of question marks around this now we all know that israel is no friend of syria but we are hearing from the israeli vice prime minister who was casting doubt over these claims by the global freitas young on the israeli vice prime minister sort of this is not the first time that there has been such claims made by local

fighters and he has made the point that the opposition in syria has a vested interest in making such claims as a way of getting foreign military intervention he also says that there is no proof of any kind of confirmation that indeed assad's forces are using chemical weapons now. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has also made the point that the chemical weaponry within syria is been contained we have been receiving reports that it has moved to two locations what we're witnessing again here is the continuation of this misinformation war the fighting in syria continues to intensify we're likely to continue to fear such kind of reports in the coming days and certainly we will do our best to try and verify the censors. absolutely poss leader there was growing global concern over israel's plan settlement expansion of support hundred more homes in east jerusalem raising fears that the two state solution could be lost examine that a bit more deeply coming up

a couple minutes time also out to will cause more the major events from twenty twelve as we take a close look at the u.s. presidential race and the candidates sidelined by the main news outlets but we get them out but nonetheless it's a couple the stories ahead. rivals some decades. if you had fifteen thousand people killing each other in any other country there would be there would be mediators. self imposed from society i will myself and my going to my brother understand. i'm going to leave. the cause of my anger and my frustration. that i know very

well into the chair of those. who are the most violent gangs in us history. is just all model kill or be killed with the colors matching the national flag. of this country uses violence when it reaches and then it legitimizes that. they are made in america on the oxy. speak your language i mean from my view or not i. would use programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you breaking news i want to turn it into

angles stories. for you here to. teach spanish find out more visit actuality. dot com. hello again very good doing with this one r.t. tonight on the afghan foreign ministry says the country's lost over seventy million dollars in taxes foreign firms linked to nato are avoiding paying their dues the report says tax dodges rely on the u.s. led block to pressure kabul into staying off their backs it's over there's a diet sultanzoy he's a political analyst and former afghan m.p. this is sore thumbs or thanks for taking the time we were this some afghan finance

officials say the debt could be run into hundreds of billions of dollars here they say tax avoiders will be expelled from afghanistan if they don't clean up their act but end of the day is that actually going to happen do you think. oh. you know this is not something new i don't know why there are shouting now i think there are these are very populist. voices right now what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence in this country they signed deals exempting some of these companies who were dealing with need to and i sat and then under that umbrella many other companies came and started. carpetbagging and backpacking. in the gains and they never paid taxes this is not new and this government will never have the guts

to collect taxes from those rogue companies it's a good question i wonder why it has flared up again now then what do you think is behind it. you know these are all grandstanding i think where before mr karzai goes to washington he's trying to raise these things just to look like a patriot. but it's a little too late and too little and too late i think what does it just name and shame the companies the people responsible here would seem an easy thing to do wouldn't it. not exactly you know why or you know not only that but where were they in the past twelve years what was going on you know i just had an aviation alone. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have never paid any taxes they've never paid even landing fees in some cases they haven't paid for flight feast this is just aviation and you can imagine in other fields of commerce in.

fuel and transportation and logistics and security in other arenas and all arenas there are hundreds of millions of dollars every year there are scaping and this government also sometimes gives them some reprieve by reducing their taxes and exchange for bribes afghan president karzai has blamed the foreign presence for widespread corruption in afghanistan that you can say it's been going on for many years and that nato is withdrawal will help the country overcome it is that realistic considering karzai is own limited power. if this is ironic it's a tragic comedy i will see. on one hand he talks about sovereignty and he shouts about afghanistan and we are this and we are lions and this and that how could. he justify domestic corruption with.

saying that there's foreign corruption whatever we don't know about domestic corruption it's it's something that. is under his control what has he done over what he has control over but this is the other culture is no president karzai says contracts involving foreigners in afghanistan are given to senior government officials or their relatives if that's the case it should be just an internal matter isn't that nice to be sorted out first before you can preach about the other side of it. yeah at the same breath he talks about his brother and vice president said never buddy who are the high ranking officials of this government who have the connection and the. ability to reach high enough to get contracts with their closest to the president and the vice president and what has happened to the for example kabul bank back and what has happened to that nobody has been given any answers. a story we're following

with your help thank you very much for your time there political analyst and former afghan m.p. as you well. as warning to israel that is settlement expansions a threat to peace in the two state solution with the palestinians israel's most recent announcement of twelve hundred more homes in these jerusalem brings the total number of housing units planned in the past few weeks them to five and a half thousand now these are illegal under international law but around half a million people already live in israeli settlements as part of peace campaigner ron pundak he told me their fate and the expansion of homes have become political bargaining chips these days. settlements is definitely within the vocabulary of talking into the center right voters so i believe that between now and twenty second of january we'll see only elevation of the discourse from the prime minister and the round on the issue of settlements i hope that those will stay only messages which are connected to

elections and not to the ality and practices on the ground of the five hundred thousand to being divided at all two hundred thousand titles within jerusalem and there is a total agreement with the palestinian side in the negotiations in the past that all the two hundred will stay inside is why we really delineate the borders of jerusalem then we have the three hundred thousand in the west bank those approximately two hundred thousand out of them which are living very close to just sent to the green line would become part of israel within the exchange of territories and there is a minority of approximately eighty to one hundred thousand israelis which will have to be evacuated as happened in two thousand and five with our previous government of again shown in which israel evacuated approximately ten thousand which was just a good example for the fact that we can make it so between us and peace will be standing one hundred thousand is where it's which we'll have to go over and be

accepted and will be hard by israel and we compensated etc i believe that this is something which goes with the national interest of the majority of israelis. head of the program tonight with me kevin though in a movie about a summer bin ladin is violent demise a spook the cia we're going on our website to tell you why america's intelligence community was so worried by what they saw they considered the drama of a documentary about what really happens online and how life could be sustained on mars the bacteria from siberia get the science and the story to. russia's upper house of parliament approved a ban on u.s. citizens adopting russian children the draft laws in response to washington's magnitsky act which bans entry and freezes assets on russian officials allegedly involved in human rights violations the adoption restrictions got unanimous backing in the chamber that now needs presidential approval to become law the act is named

after to make yakovlev a two year old russian boy who died after his adoptive u.s. father left him in a car on a hot day. targets america's lax treatment towards those who let russian children suffer but critics claim the move deprives thousands of orphans of the chance of finding a loving. the new year nearly here with the southeast taking stock of the events in shape twenty twelve today we look at coverage of the u.s. presidential debate and the struggle for those candidates who didn't have multibillion dollar campaigns still try to get a voice. we have been running the election of food series more than two weeks before the election every single day there was a story by a correspondent running wild guests on the show and cetera et cetera still given

voice through the third parties was exactly what we needed to get the full picture . we are just a couple hours away now from the third party debate as you can see our production crew is busy transforming our studio in a debate floor one of the most important functions of democracy is to the debate a lot of discussion about a lot of issues and the more we can open up don't credit institutions like our our election system is a multiple party to what it might even be considered fringe parties more likely we are to have an open honest debate on a wide variety of issues rather than a very narrow people often ask why is it a two horse race what do you know of the right heads in the country to compete and then you have to explain that there are other voices but that they're pushed out of the process because they're not part of the big party machine on foreign policy for example the alternative candidates have clearly been against military intervention

is against military expansion that will fly with go for washington establishment the other networks covered president obama and governor romney to debating whatever break here in our studios we had two very serious candidates talk about very serious issues that were absent elsewhere everywhere they talked about the n.b.a. they talked about drones to talk about the war on drugs and this is something that we put together because not only do we know there was a point but our audience was asking for it we haven't seen it too much of you know in the mainstream media do you think tomorrow they will be talking about how you did impact. election over that would be the pie in the sky is that the guy would impact the election and let me just give you a chronology of the libertarian party. you know the fact is you go from an annoyance to a spoiler to a player we really need to be bringing third parties fourth parties just parties into that which are blocking traffic was her first marriage right i think you want

me to think i feel like this is a win for the american people that we have been able to enter into this race to break into the party and offer the solutions that the american people are clamoring for. reflections of the year just gone from on news teams that throughout the coming days as well of your enjoying them now there are some streets in america where residents fear to walk after the break up tea has the story of two of the country's most violent criminal gangs illustrating just that. it's perched atop a jog and a view from the tobolsk prevalence stretches as far as the eye can see up for

a city that chilled all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed by the chance i bear in railway but the cremains a spiritual center. things like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of also docks worshippers themselves implicity water to commemorate the baptism of jesus. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslims. surrounded by enemies to ball supposed to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub siberian was the oil of its time bringing in a third of all russia's state revenue but the ball scrimmaged location head of the

uses for the russians the russian heiress for crowds who led a revolt against the tsar and eight hundred twenty five known as the decembrists worse than heroin drove there they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia but the city also served up some bitter irony for the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution this is the office where nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled hare they had a fairly comfortable existence this was a big house but they weren't allowed to see visitors or gartside themselves leading this ordinary normal countryside lifestyle they even had those of us but within the year and his family would be dead.

my .